WITH the decline of manufacturing jobs in North Wales, the success story that has been Toyota’s association and relationship with the region has become ever more impressive and important.

Now there is to be yet more investment in the Deeside plant which has been tasked with building the engines for the new Auris model – the imaginative successor to the hugely popular Corolla.

This is cause for celebration indeed. #100m is to be injected into the plant which has already enjoyed rapid expansion in the past few years, virtually doubling its workforce in 2001 and subsequently adding to that.

Deeside now produces engine parts for assembly in France and Turkey, and machined parts for other Toyota plants as far afield as Venezuela and South Africa.

The petrol engine for the Auris is unlikely to do anything less than secure the future for the workforce: Toyota has a reputation for stress-free ownership and reliability and is running rival car makers such as Nissan a very close race.

It is at the cutting edge of advanced technology and hybrid engine development which puts fuel efficiency at the top of the agenda along with reducing damaging emissions.

If the new model proves to be a popular as the one it is designed to replace, both in Britain and on the continent, then production should be assured for many years.

But Toyota’s fidelity to North Wales is now of particularly impressive longevity and apparent durability, a great tribute to industrial relations over some 18 years during which other manufacturers have proved a lot less steadfast.

Some six years ago it switched production from Japan to its plants in Deeside and Derbyshire at the very time when other car companies were threatening to quit British shores, citing unfavourable exchange rates.

For it now to inject another #100m into this highly fruitful marriage is good news for North Wales and good news for drivers looking forward to taking delivery of their new Toyota in the knowledge that the engine has been built by one of the best workforces in the world.

Today we salute a rare example of imagination and success in modern manufacturing. Long may it continue.